Likud touts ‘celebration of democracy’ despite party members’ reduced say on slate

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"Likud members hustled into Jerusalem’s International Convention Center on Monday afternoon, passing by a dense network of stands distributing campaign literature in support of individual candidates, on their way to cast ballots in the party’s primary. The vote was one of the few being held in advance of Israel’s general election on October 27, with the leaders of most parties unilaterally selecting their Knesset slates, but this year Prime Minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu has been able to reserve more slots than ever before on the slate for preferred choices of his own.As campaign jingles blared on loudspeakers and activists handed out stickers, lawmakers and ministers circulated, shaking hands with voters and fielding questions from political…

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